Germany in 2009

Elections

Prior to the general elections, elections were held for five state parliaments. The state elections were staggered throughout the national legislative period and were therefore thought to be good indicators for the national election. The first vote of the year took place in January in Hessen, where early elections had been called after coalition-building negotiations collapsed. The state’s 2008 election had created a situation in which only a grand coalition would have been viable. The main parties, the CDU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), however, could not find common ground. This was inauspicious, since these parties were ruling together in a grand coalition at the national level. The Social Democrats suffered a loss in the 2009 Hessen elections, which allowed the Christian Democrats to form a coalition with one of the smaller parties. This seemed like good news for Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Christian Democrats, who began the election year anticipating a win.

This optimism was shaken on various occasions throughout the following nine months. Many of the CDU’s policies relating to the economic crisis and to gender and social politics seemed to be more in keeping with the traditional political philosophy of the Social Democrats. This led to the impression, among voters as well as parliamentarians, that the Christian Democratic political program was diffuse and undefined, even that close to the election. Additionally, the party had to weather strife and mishap in the months leading up to September 27, the day of the national election.

Traditionally, the Christian Democrats were linked at the national level with a Bavarian state party, the Christian Social Union (CSU). Over the previous decade this connection had become less comfortable. While the CSU slipped farther toward the social conservative side of the spectrum, the Christian Democrats increasingly moved in the opposite direction. In its desire to raise its profile, the CSU was more than vocal in its protest and critique of its sister party—a tactic that the CDU did not appreciate in a year when it was standing for national reelection while the CSU did not have to face any elections in Bavaria.

Saarland, Saxony, and Thuringia did, however, hold state elections one month before the national election, which gave them national importance. In two of the three states, the ruling Christian Democrats lost percentage points in the double digits and were therefore forced to consider forming grand coalitions. This seemed to throw into question the party’s expected win in the national election, and national opinion polls showed the Social Democrats gaining ground.

Of all the election campaigns, the one in Thuringia proved to be the most turbulent. The state’s minister president had suffered a serious skiing accident, and though his party insisted that he would be ready to stand for election in August (and he ultimately was), many doubted as late as May that he would be able to do so. International attention was drawn to the election when a black Christian Democrat, Zeca Schall, was threatened by supporters of the extreme-right National Democratic Party (NPD).

Traditionally, the national election campaigns had almost always been carefully neutral and nonconfrontational until after the state elections, and this held true in 2009. Even the so-called “TV duel” between Chancellor Merkel and the SPD candidate, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, was not highly antagonistic. Differences other than in rhetoric emerged mainly in relation to the minimum wage and to nuclear energy, which the SPD opposed vehemently and the CDU embraced as an intermediate measure. It was the smaller parties—the neoliberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), the environmentalist Green Party, and the social democratic Left Party—that advertised with concrete and clear policy proposals. This was reflected in the results of the national election.

The CDU and CSU together captured 33.8% of the vote, and Merkel was reconfirmed in her role as chancellor, while the SPD received 23% of the vote. Both the CDU-CSU and the SPD lost percentage points relative to the 2005 election, however, even if the CDU-CSU’s loss was small (1.4%) compared with the 11.2% loss of the SPD. The winners were the smaller parties; the FDP increased its share by 4.7% (to 14.6%), the Left by 3.2% (to 11.9%), and the Greens by 2.6% (to 10.7%). This result allowed the CDU to form a coalition with the FDP, its traditional coalition partner, rather than being forced back into an uncomfortable grand coalition with the SPD. The success of the Christian Democrats could be at least partially attributed to the first signs in August that the German economy was improving. The election was again notable for the poor turnout, which at 71% was the lowest in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The state elections in Brandenburg and Schleswig-Holstein, held on the same day as the national election, passed almost without notice. Nevertheless, the Brandenburg result was notable, because for the first time a coalition between the SPD and the Left Party would be in power in that state. Schleswig-Holstein had to undergo early elections because its grand coalition had failed in July. As a result of these elections, a government of the CDU and the FDP was formed, mirroring that of the national government.

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